Ken Rennie
Well-Known Member
Last weekend saw me visiting a location where I spent most of my school holidays as a child. Alva is just East of Stirling and sits under the Ochil hills. The town was expanded due to the wool trade as this and all of the villages along the edge of the hills were woolen mill towns as they used the fast flowing rivers to power the machinery. I can still remember the noise as I stayed about 50yards from a large working mill. Like most western manufacturing they are all silent as the industry moved to the far East, I am sure that the USA cloth industry as much the same. Apart from a few very small and high quality cloth manufacturers Britain has no woolen industries left apart from Harris tweed which has to be hand loomed and made in Harris in the Outer Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. This is the Central Lowlands of Scotland a slight misnomer with the volcanic Ochils topping 2,000ft. I used to fish for brown trout in the upper glen as the lower glen is steep and wooded with multiple dams and very limited access to the water. The water levels are also much lower in the lower glen as water is taken off for the town's water supply and it used to power the large mill shown in the first image.
I think that I was 15 on my last fishing trip here but could remember every step. However I don't remember just how steep and tricky getting down and across the burns was, I suppose a 15yr old leaps up and down hills easily. As you can see it was a blue sky day, good for walking but not for photography. The water levels were also very low, I would not have walked up the hill to fish in these conditions. Between the upper and lower glen the river disappears into a deep canyon that can't be explored without advanced canyoneering skills and certainly not solo. I had lunch here and managed a selfy, you can see just how low the water is.
The same place without me showing a waterfall deeper into the chasm
The upper glen showing a large waterfall (phone shot)
The waterfall, I can remember catching a trout, on a wet fly, in the pool at the bottom. It is difficult to be accurate but the falls are probably a touch over 150ft high.
Scrambling up the hillside was tricky and I was wondering how my father managed it until I remember that he was in his late 40's and I am in my late 60's. I took the easy way down on the path that can be seen traversing the hillside in the first image.
The photography wasn't great but rekindling memories was. I could be tempted back in the Autumn after some heavy rain and with some cloud cover. Ken
I think that I was 15 on my last fishing trip here but could remember every step. However I don't remember just how steep and tricky getting down and across the burns was, I suppose a 15yr old leaps up and down hills easily. As you can see it was a blue sky day, good for walking but not for photography. The water levels were also very low, I would not have walked up the hill to fish in these conditions. Between the upper and lower glen the river disappears into a deep canyon that can't be explored without advanced canyoneering skills and certainly not solo. I had lunch here and managed a selfy, you can see just how low the water is.
The same place without me showing a waterfall deeper into the chasm
The upper glen showing a large waterfall (phone shot)
The waterfall, I can remember catching a trout, on a wet fly, in the pool at the bottom. It is difficult to be accurate but the falls are probably a touch over 150ft high.
Scrambling up the hillside was tricky and I was wondering how my father managed it until I remember that he was in his late 40's and I am in my late 60's. I took the easy way down on the path that can be seen traversing the hillside in the first image.
The photography wasn't great but rekindling memories was. I could be tempted back in the Autumn after some heavy rain and with some cloud cover. Ken
